CHRIST CHURCH CHALLENGE

March 2007 2 Christ Church Challenge CHRIST CHURCH, JULIAN ROAD DIOCESE OF BATH AND WELLS IN THE

SUNDAY SERVICES

8.00am Holy Communion 10.00am Family Communion, Junior Church & Crêche First Sundays & Festivals Choral Evensong and Sermon at 6.30pm Other Sundays Said Evening Prayer at 5.30pm (see page 5)

There is amplification to assist the hard of hearing

CHOIR

Junior Choir Practice Friday 6.30pm - 8.00pm Adult Practice Friday 7.30pm - 9.00pm

New singers always welcome - please contact Director of Music 01225 445360

BAPTISMS, MARRIAGES, FUNERALS

By arrangement. Please ‘phone the Vestry 338869 / Officiating Minister 427462

Angela and John, the churchwardens, would like to know about people who are ill, or of any circumstances in which the ministry of the Church would be welcome.

March 2007 www.christchurchbath.org Christ Church Challenge 3

Forum…

UK IS ACCUSED OF FAILING CHILDREN

The UK has been accused of failing its children, as it comes bottom of a league table for child well being across 21 industrialised countries.

UK Report Findings

UK child poverty has doubled since 1979 Children living in homes earning less than half of the national average wage - 16% Children rating their peers as "kind and helpful" - 43% Families eating a meal together "several times" a week - 66% Children who admit being drunk on two or more occasions - 31%

A Unicef report published on 13 February looked at 40 indicators including poverty, peer and family relationships, and health. One of the report's authors said that under-investment and a "dog eat dog" attitude in society were to blame for Britain's poor performance. The government, on the other hand, insists that its policies have helped to improve child welfare.

'Dog eat dog society'

The report revealed that all countries have some weaknesses but. Professor Jonathan Bradshaw from York University, one of the report's authors, put the UK's poor ratings down to long term underinvestment. "It's very difficult to answer the why question. But if you're asking what is the main driver of these results, it's the fact that for a long time children in Britain have been under-invested in; not enough has been spent on them."

The Unicef study found Britain had the lowest proportion of children who found their friends kind and helpful - 40%, compared to 80% in Switzerland, he went on. Professor Bradshaw said that this was an indication of a "dog eat dog society". He added: "In a society which is very unequal, with high levels of poverty, it leads on to what children think about themselves and their lives. That's really what's at the heart of this."

www.christchurchbath.org March 2007 4 Christ Church Challenge

An unhappy and unhealthy generation

The Children's Commissioner for England, Professor Sir Alan Aynsley- Green, said the report's findings should be a wake-up call to politicians and society as a whole. "We are turning out a generation of young people who are unhappy, unhealthy, engaging in risky behaviour, who have poor relationships with their family and their peers, who have low expectations and don't feel safe." He said parents, teachers, politicians and society as a whole all had a role to play in nurturing children and helping them to develop into successful adults.

Church of England response

The Children's Society has launched a website to coincide with the report, www.mylife.uk.com, which allows children to answer a series of surveys about their lives. The society's chief executive Bob Reitemeier said: "We simply cannot ignore these shocking findings. "Unicef's report is a wake-up call to the fact that, despite being a rich country, the UK is failing children and young people in a number of crucial ways."

Leave it to the politicians?

The government claims that it has given children proper policy priority and that more up-to-date data would show progress on issues like, pregnancy rates, teenage smoking, drinking and risky sexual behaviour had helped improve children's welfare. An opposition spokesman, on the other hand, accused the government of having “failed this generation of children”. This devastating report demands something more than the usual yah- boo exchanges between political parties. We all have to become involved. Most of us know, by observation and experience that tax laws, benefit policies and the excessive demands of employers militate against family life. It is often impossible for many families to devote their time to their children. We all have a duty now to pressurise the policy makers into legislating for families and placing value on the work of parents. The Mothers’ Union and the Children’s Society represent a direct line of action for our church. This Unicef report must be seen by all of us as call to prayer and action in a precious task we share with the whole of society; the care and nurture of our children. Jesus said: “Let the children come to me”. Can we, his church, say less? Antony

March 2007 www.christchurchbath.org Christ Church Challenge 5

Church Calendar for March Mar 4 Sun THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT 6.30pm Choral Evensong 5 Mon 8.00pm “Meet Up Monday” at the Hare and Hounds 7 Wed 11.00am Holy Communion and Lunch 8 Thu GEOFFREY KENNEDY, and Poet - 1929 9 Fri 11.00am The Cedar Tree Community Café 11 Sun THE THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT 5.00pm Said Evening Prayer 14 Wed 11.00am Holy Communion and Lunch 16 Fri 11.00am The Cedar Tree Community Café 17 Sat PATRICK, , Missionary & Patron of Ireland - 460 18 Sun THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT MOTHERING SUNDAY 5.00pm Tea and Taizé 19 Mon JOSEPH OF NAZARETH 20 Tue CUTHBERT, Bishop and Missionary - 687 21 Wed 11.00am Holy Communion and Lunch 23 Fri 11.00am The Cedar Tree Community Café 25 Sun THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT NB: Bath Half Marathon (10.30—2.30) 5.00pm Said Evening Prayer 26 Mon ANNUNCIATION OF OUR LORD to the BVM 28 Wed 11.00am Holy Communion & Lunch 30 Fri 11.00am The Cedar Tree Community Café Apr 1 Sun PALM SUNDAY 6.30pm Choral Evensong www.christchurchbath.org March 2007 6 Christ Church Challenge Laity Rota for March OT Readers NT Readers Gospel March 4 Georgina Bowman Mark Elliott Chris Graham 11 Sarah Hiscock Jane Fletcher Margaret Heath 18 Junior Church 25 Judith Bishop Sylvia Ayers Ann Kemp April 1 Margaret Burrows Judith Anderson Richard Gabe 8 Emma Elliott Bev Pont David Marles

Chalice Assistants March 4 Chris Graham Janet Mahto 11 Jane Fletcher Ann Kemp 18 Bob Siderfin Penny Edwards 25 Margaret Burrows Tessa Claridge April 1 Chris Graham Janet Mahto

8 Jane Fletcher Ann Kemp

Intercessors March 4 David Marles 11 Rev Cliff Burrows 18 Junior Church 25 Chris Graham April 1 Georgina Bowman 8 Rev Antony Claridge

Sidespeople 8am 10am March 4 Arthur Jones David Marles Joan Bunkin 11 Clive Tilling June Metcalfe Chris Gladstone 18 Arthur Jones Tessa Claridge Jean Ferguson 25 Clive Tilling Chris and Eliza Gladstone April 1 Arthur Jones Margaret Silver Frank Twissell 8 Clive Tilling Ken and Sylvia Ayers

March 2007 www.christchurchbath.org Christ Church Challenge 7 Lectionary for March

Old Testament New Testament Gospel

Mar 4 2nd Sunday of Lent

No reading Philippians 3.17-4.1 Luke 13.31-35

11 3rd Sunday of Lent

Isaiah 55.1-9 1 Cor 10.1-13 Luke 13.1-9

18 4th Sunday of Lent—Mothering Sunday

No reading Colossians 3.12-17 John 25b-27

25 5th Sunday of Lent

Isaiah 43.16-21 No reading John 12.1-8

April 1 Palm Sunday

Isaiah 50.4-9a No reading Luke 19.28-40

Our Calendar Correspondent Explains… “GEOFFREY KENNEDY” (8th March)

Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy, MC (June 27, 1883 - March 8, 1929), was an Anglican priest and poet. He was nicknamed 'Woodbine Willy' during World War I for giving Woodbine cigarettes along with spiritual aid to injured and dying soldiers. Born in Leeds in 1883, Kennedy was the seventh of nine children born to Jeanette Anketell and William Studdert Kennedy, a vicar in Leeds. He was educated at Leeds Grammar School and Trinity College, Dublin, where he gained a degree in classics and divinity in 1904.

After a year's training, he became a in Rugby and then, in 1914, the vicar of St. Pauls, Worcester. On the outbreak of war, Kennedy volunteered as a chaplain to the armed forces on the Western Front, where he gained the nickname 'Woodbine Willy'. In 1917, he won the Military Cross at Messines Ridge after running into no man's land to help the wounded during an attack on the German frontline. He wrote a number of poems about his experiences, and these appeared in the books Rough Rhymes of a Padre (1918), and More Rough Rhymes (1919).

After the war, Kennedy was appointed to run St. Edmund King and Martyr in Lombard Street, London. Having been converted to Christian socialism and pacifism during the war, he wrote Lies (1919), Democracy and the Dog-Collar (1921), Food for the Fed Up (1921), The Wicket Gate (1923), and The Word and the Work (1925). He went on to work for the Industrial Christian Fellowship, for whom he went on speaking tours of Britain. It was on one of these tours that he was taken ill and died, in Liverpool. www.christchurchbath.org March 2007 8 Christ Church Challenge

Preparing for Easter

In this year’s lead up to Easter Christ Church will be joining with neighbouring churches and churches across the city of Bath.

On the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week we shall join with the churches of our Local Ministry Group for a series of meditations led by Bishop under the title The Holy Land in Holy Week. Bishop Richard was a priest in Johannesburg in the 1960’s. After work in parishes in Waltham Cross and Harpenden, he became in 1985. Subsequent appointment as in 1992 was followed by staff work as from 1999. Bishop Richard has also worked with USPG.

Maundy Thursday will see us in the company of our friends from St Mary’s Ro- man for the last of the Lent Lunches which will follow the 11am Eucharist. In the evening there will be an agape supper which is a fellowship meal incorporating the liturgy of the Eucharist.

On the morning of Good Friday we shall walk with Christians of all denomina- tions through the streets of Bath to the Abbey Churchyard. Here there will be a service of witness which will include an address by Bishop Richard Llewellin.

Full details and times of these events together other services on Good Friday, Easter Eve and Easter day will be found below.

SERVICES FOR HOLY WEEK AND EASTER

During Holy Week you are invited to join the pilgrimage of the cross, the destination of which is the celebration of Easter day. In the first three days there will times of quiet reflection led by Bishop Richard Llewellin in each of our Local Ministry group churches. During these one-hour ses- sions Bishop Richard will take a look at historic and contemporary events in the Holy Land. On Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, different forms of worship lead into the Easter Vigil and Easter Day.

HOLY WEEK

Monday 2nd April

8.00 pm The Holy Land in Holy Week Meditation and prayer with Bishop Richard Llewellin at St Stephen’s Lansdown

March 2007 www.christchurchbath.org Christ Church Challenge 9

Tuesday 3rd April

8.00 pm The Holy Land in Holy Week Meditation and prayer with Bishop Richard Llewellin at Christ Church

Wednesday 4th April

11.00 am Holy Communion With a Lent lunch shared with the people of St Mary's RC Church

8.00 pm The Holy Land in Holy Week Meditation and prayer with Bishop Richard Llewellin at St Mary’s Charlcombe

Maundy Thursday

7.30 pm Agape

Good Friday

10.00 am Good Friday Cross Walk to the Abbey Churchyard

12.30 pm Good Friday Journey (at Christ Church) People of all ages are invited to follow the Way of the Cross

1.15 pm Music and Meditations for Good Friday

2.00 pm An Hour at the Cross Prayer and meditation

Easter Eve

7.30 pm The Easter Vigil With music and hymns

EASTER DAY

6.00 am Service at the Break of Day at St Mary’s Charlcombe

8.00 am Holy Communion Book of Common Prayer (said)

10.00 am Sung Family Eucharist (Plus the Great Christ Church Egg Hunt!) www.christchurchbath.org March 2007 10 Christ Church Challenge

Entourage has just finished its second season, hidden away on ITV2. Vincent Chase, an actor radiating silver screen charisma; Eric, his closest and smartest friend, now his manager and the natural home for the viewer’s sympathies; Johnny “Drama”, Vince’s less good looking, less successful, less Hollywood older brother, a few years down the line from his last major role; and Turtle, the driver, gopher and fixer; they all grew up together in Queens, New York and are now in LA with Vince on the brink of the big-time. Entourage created by Doug Ellin

The show is based around Mark Wahlberg’s experiences of arriving in Hollywood. It surrounds and tempts the boys with opulent, gaudy wealth which isn’t theirs, not yet, maybe not ever, unless they can just make the right moves at the right time...

Guiding them, but only because their success is his success, is the wonderfully ruthless, ambitious Ari Gold, Vince’s agent, low on scruples and quick with a biting comment. He likes them, but he likes himself much more.

The whole series constantly mixes reality with fiction. Ari is based on a real agent (Ari Emanuel) and is occasionally seen meeting his clients, who are all real clients of the real Ari. Johnny, the less successful brother, is played by Kevin Dillon, who is the less successful brother of actor Matt Dillon. Vince’s first big movie is Aquaman, directed by James Cameron (fictional film, real director) and so James Cameron (the real director) has a recurring role in the series. Those of us who are not quite hip enough are left unsure as to what’s real and what’s not.

The show is funny; the characters are believable and Hollywood believably outrageous. If you’re in the mood for it, it leaves you smiling.

Like every successful comedy or drama series, it’s about a family and how whatever happens to them, whatever conflicts they have with each other, whatever leads them away from each other; nothing is more important than the family. Vince sails through each episode, more or less unmoved by events with a belief and confidence that is independent of his worldly success. His friends are more nervous; trying to engineer his success, for their own share in it, understandably, but also because they love Vince and believe it’s the right thing to do for him. It is this that gives the fun of the glitz and glamour a light moral message; be true to those you love. David Marles

March 2007 www.christchurchbath.org Christ Church Challenge 11

Take up a book for Lent Archbishop recommends power and passion

As reported last month, The ’s official book for lent 2007 is Power and Passion by Samuel Wells. In it Wells shows how the characters in the Holy Week story face choices and experience feelings very similar to our own. In his forward Rowan Williams commends the author for arguing “ that if we look at how the gospel stories of the passion of Jesus understand power and conflict, we learn something essential about connecting politics and passion.”

The book offers a fascinating textual examination of six characters in the passion narratives. Each character study draws out a particular theme: The first chapter on Pontius Pilate looks at political power and the possibilities of our own personal power. The second chapter, focusing on Barabbas, is a study of violence and its use and abuse in the political sphere, and of how we as individuals are to deal with obstacles to what we believe to be right. The third chapter focuses on Joseph of Arimathea, posing the question ‘is it possible to be a Christian privately?’ Wells contends that ‘the death and resurrection of Jesus changed the heart of reality – and that can hardly be a private thing’.

The fourth chapter, intriguingly, focuses on ‘Mrs Pilate’. A fleeting character (she appears in just one verse in the Bible – Matthew 27:19) she represents a rather unusual choice of figure for a passion meditation. Wells uses her as the basis for a meditation on dreams (she tells her husband that she ‘suffered in a dream’ because of Jesus), looking at the role that dreams play for the powerful and the powerless, and what place they might have in political life. The fifth chapter returns to more familiar ground, looking at the character of Peter, his failure of discipleship in his denial of Christ, and at his subsequent forgiveness and the implications that this might have for friendship. The final chapter looks at Mary Magdalene, and contains an interesting discussion of the role of women in the Gospel passion narratives, and of their potential for transformative leadership within politics and the Church. It also contains an interesting treatment of Mary’s anointing of Jesus, and questions the assumptions of the Church about the poor.

These themes are drawn together to suggest that “Jesus invites a new kind of passion because he brings a new kind of power.” In this Wells contends that the power of Christ’s resurrection is politically transformative, that it changes the way in which we are called to view and act towards the world. In this respect, Wells’ book is a suitably challenging series of Lenten studies. Like all good preachers, his prose is accessible but never patronising, and his insights will do much to enrich your understanding of Christian discipleship. Published by Zondervan Price £8.99 www.christchurchbath.org March 2007 12 Christ Church Challenge

Keeping Up With The Joneses

Due to various trips away in January, we’ve only one church to report on this month. But before we get to that, we thought we’d mention a phenomenon that we’ve noticed at all the churches we’ve been to.

The priest who baptised Matthew was renowned for the occasion he berated his congregation for “paying more attention to a bus timetable than you do to service times”. It seems that this is as applicable to South London in 2006 as it was to Hereford in the 1980s. At all the churches we’ve attended, between a third and half of the congregation seemed to arrive after the service had started. Indeed, it seems not unusual for large groups of people to wander in 15 minutes late. There are, of course, reasons why anyone could be late occasionally, but such widespread lateness seems strangely disrespectful and we can’t fathom out why it happens. Answers on a postcard please!

Turning to this month’s church takes us to South Dulwich and the parish of St. Stephen’s (www.ststephensdulwich.org). The building is an elegant neo-gothic affair with a beautiful arts and crafts style interior. We’ve attended two services here, primarily because the first (an “all age” Family Eucharist) was so dreadful we wanted to give them a chance to redeem themselves! The priest leading this service had clearly worked really hard to try to produce something to appeal to the children, but the result, sadly, was rather dated. It included some terrible poetry and a painful attempt at congregation participation which none of the kids seemed very impressed with. We don’t think the rest of the congregation was enjoying it either.

Moving swiftly on, the second service we attend (a Parish Communion) was a vast improvement. We were made very welcome as we both arrived and departed, whilst the service itself showed distinct Anglo- Catholic tendencies, especially in the prayer to Mary during the intercessions. The sermon was given by an eminent visiting preacher and was excellent (we hadn’t noticed quarter of an hour had gone by).

The church is clearly proud of its musical tradition – we were handed music copies of the service setting as we arrived and a new organ was completed in 2005 – but the painfully slow speed of the hymns meant that it sounded like the hills of the north were a very long way from rejoicing and the Lord’s anointed a long way from being hailed! Sadly the choir did not sing during either visit - apparently, they were singing

March 2007 www.christchurchbath.org Christ Church Challenge 13

at an evening service on the second occasion and so could not possibly sing in the morning as well!

Overall, we feel it’s not the church we want to attend regularly – to be honest, it has one too many candles (see below) for us! We may well return here however, if we ever wish to attend a quieter, more reflective service than most of those on offer in the area.

Churchmanship:

Welcome: ☺☺☺☺

Music: ♫♫??

Coffee: (no instant coffee here!) Matthew & Sarah Jones

MOTHERS UNION NEWS

First, may I thank everyone for your prompt response to my annual request for subscriptions. Although it seems a large amount, with it, we can help to pay for the running of Mary Sumner House, the expenses of Deanery and Diocesan Officers, and the publication of Springs, our quarterly magazine.

Members were invited to attend the commissioning service of Pam Cavallini as Bath Deanery President, which was held at St Stephens Lansdown on February 27th. Pam will remain as President for the next 3 years, and during that time, she will be able to complete her plan for a Bath Deanery Group, as outlined in these notes last November. We wish her every success with this new initiative.

Members will be notified of all MU Deanery events in due course ,and meanwhile we continue with our usual activities. We will still hold our monthly midweek Corporate Communion, have a Summer Sunday Overseas after Church Bring and Buy sale table, and retain our usual October “Refuge” Appeal.

Our next Corporate Communion will be on Wednesday March 14th, and will be followed by a Lent Lunch. We do hope that all members will be able to attend, and we look forward to seeing you there. Sylvia M Ayers (Secretary) www.christchurchbath.org March 2007 14 Christ Church Challenge

DO YOU KNOW the wild variety of this glowing plant which has been so tamed, civilised and hybridised that the vast majority of public and private gardens contain at least one variety; that in the C15th it was claimed that every county in the land had these flowering plants in abundance, but they are now restricted to a few, if widespread areas; and what has all this to do with leeks and Lent lilies (which name also rhymes with one of the nicknames for these plants)?

Most of us will only be familiar with the cultivated versions of these plants: I think we have at least four varieties in our front garden; some of them inherited from the previous owners (about forty years ago) but most of the bulbs bought and planted more recently. Indeed, in recent times many local authorities and garden centres have encouraged the planting of these bulbs on embankments, motorways and by-passes.

The widespread nature of the wild variety had disappeared by the 1930s and no-one seems able to account for its present distribution: it is still abundant in South Devon, along parts of the Gloucester-Herefordshire border, the Weald of Sussex, parts of Yorkshire and the Lake District. Its disappearance from the rest of the country remains a mystery: being an attractive plant many were picked for sale, but many witnesses say that this only seemed to encourage their growth in greater numbers. The abundant area closest to us is the Golden Triangle between Dymock, Newent and Ledbury. In this area, locals, pickers and gypsies have all been involved in selling these plants. Gypsies from Newent travelled to Minchinhampton to sell their wares and John Masefield, who was born in Ledbury, wrote, “And there the pickers come, picking for the town… Hard faced women, weather-beaten brown”. Indeed, if you visit Newent at any time of the year, you will see the black- painted wrought-iron gate which bears a striking replica of this flowering plant. These plants were so popular that the GWR started a Dymock Special in 1935 so that Londoners might see the area for themselves. The demand for these plants was so great that many farmers and their workers regarded them as an important cash crop. However, when interest waned and the line closed in 1956, this source of revenue declined, but began to revive in the 1980s.

Another wild variety of this plant was found in the Tenby area of South Wales. This variety is shorter and sturdier than the English variety but was also exploited for selling to “townies”; indeed, in this case, overpicking by one farmer almost resulted in its extinction in the 1980s. His name was Shaw and he employed collectors to search for the bulbs throughout South

March 2007 www.christchurchbath.org Christ Church Challenge 15

Pembrokeshire, which he then sold on to wholesale merchants who coveted this new variety and encouraged its sale by supporting stories about it reaching Wales through visits from the Phoenecians. Most farmers thought of the plant as weeds and allowed cart loads to be taken away. In 1895 Shaw sold one cart-load for £165. What would that be worth today? A final clue: the petals of this variety stand at right angles to the trumpets of the bright yellow flowers. These plants are daffodils.

In this part of the country they are also called Lent Lilies, presumably because they are one of the few plants which flower during Lent. They are also known as dillies or datty down dillies in many parts of the country. Many country sites are known as Dilly copses or Dilly coverts. Richard Mabey also asks: why is Wales the only country to have two national plants, the daffodil and the leek? He suggests it might have something to so with a misunderstanding of the welsh language at sometime in the past. In welsh, leek = Cennin; daffodil = Cennin aur (golden leek). He thinks this is a delightful explanation because both of these plants are lilies.

So which did you wear on the 1st of March?

Cyril Selmes

The Christ Church Friends in Deed scheme is designed to provide a network of good neighbours who have volunteered to do the neighbourly things we used to do for each other when we lived closer together. When the need arises, they are prepared on request to:

• make friendship visits or telephone calls • do shopping at times of illness or infirmity • offer or find sources of advice • handle occasional non-specialist odd jobs

All areas in which church members live are covered by the Friends in Deed scheme. If you need or know of someone else who needs help, you should in the first instance contact the Friends in Deed Co-ordinators, Jane Fletcher (01225 463758) and Yvonne Morris (01225 425555). They will then get in touch with the local contact best able to provide the help that is needed. www.christchurchbath.org March 2007 16 Christ Church Challenge Prayer Cycle for March

Thurs 1 For those coping with terminal illness. For their families and all who care for them. Fri 2 For our LMG partners, St Stephen’s and St Mary’s Charlcombe. Sat 3 We pray for the University Chaplaincy Centre, for Angela the University Chaplain, and for all the chaplains. Sun 4 For our Clergy Team.

Mon 5 For all who will visit Christ Church during this week; for those enjoying this evening’s Meet-Up Monday. Tues 6 For our hospitals, nursing homes and local surgeries.

Wed 7 For our Church Trustees, who meet today. For Yvonne, their chairman.

Thurs 8 For Emma, Margaret and Sarah, our Deanery Synod representatives.

Fri 9 For our next-door neighbours; for our colleagues at work.

Sat 10 For the work of USPG in general, and especially for St Anne’s Hospital, Lake Malawi. For Adrian Pegg, our USPG representative.

Sun 11 For Mark, David, Mike and the choir. We thank God for the gift of music and its role in our worship. Mon 12 For all leaders of nations. For those who feel they must use violence to achieve their ends. Tues 13 For our hospitals, nursing homes and local surgeries and for those who work for the emergency services. Wed 14 For John and June and all who are supporting the Christ Church and St. Mary’s Lent Lunches. Thurs 15 For Nicky, our Magazine Editor.

Fri 16 For the Cedar Tree project; for Nicky and all the helpers; for our local community.

March 2007 www.christchurchbath.org Christ Church Challenge 17 Sat 17 For Rowan our Archbishop and for Peter our Bishop. For all Angli- can and Primates. Sun 18 For those mourning the death of loved ones: for those mourning the death of a child or children. Mon 19 For our children and young people and for our Junior Church leaders, that God will bless them and guide them in their ministry and learn- ing. Tues 20 For Cyril and Mark our Readers; for Sarah’s ministry at Batheaston.

Wed 21 For Angela, our Verger. Thurs 22 For David, our Treasurer. Fri 23 For Angela and John, our Churchwardens, and for Frank and Yvonne, our Deputy Churchwardens. Sat 24 For those who are facing retirement, that God will help them with the challenges of their new life. Sun 25 On this Passion Sunday, we pray for those who suffer in body, mind or spirit: for those who care about them and worry about them. Mon 26 For all parents, step-parents and godparents. For foster parents and all who care for children. Tues 27 For members of our congregation who can no longer attend church due to illness or infirmity. Wed 28 For Sylvia and Margaret, our Churches Together in Bath Representa- tives. Thurs 29 For all our readers, chalice assistants, intercessors and sidespeople. For Sarah Hiscock who draws up the Laity Rota. Fri 30 Let us give thanks for our friends and families, for food and shelter, for all that brings us joy and contentment. Sat 31 Let us thank God for the blessings of the month now ending.

April Sun 1 That, whatever burdens we bear, our worship today may reflect a deeper joy and thankfulness. Mon 2 For those facing redundancy, for those who are unemployed. Tues 3 That the Holy Spirit may guide all our prayers and meditations this Holy Week and prepare us for Easter.

www.christchurchbath.org March 2007 18 Christ Church Challenge

Thank you to Margaret Heath, our resident “roving reporter” for providing the answers to this month’s questionnaire. Where were you born? Lancashire. My father, WL Bragg, was a Professor of Physics at Manchester University at the time. His family came from Cumbria, my mother’s from Manchester What are your hobbies? Keeping in touch with family and friends, (including as a treat visiting my OZ friends and relations) country walks, Art History, exploring spirituality, and above all remembering Mark (d. 28 Sept 2005) with great affection What car do you drive? Mark’s Vauxhall, but I prefer the train for any distance, and bus or walk locally. I grew up in Cambridge on a bike, but find Bath too hilly for biking. What is your favourite film, and why? Tea with Mussolini—I found it very funny, and I love Italy. What is your favourite kind of music? Mozart, Verdi & folksongs. I play the car radio on Classic FM or Radio 3, whichever is more cheerful. What is your favourite kind of meal / food? I tend to eat the food of the country I happen to be in, but, that said, definitely prefer garlic, olive oil and wine to pickles, butter and beer. What has been your proudest moment? After we’d had the Queen to lunch following her visit to John Paul II and an equerry asked if I had a footstool ready. I hadn’t, and Mark was knighted kneeling on a chair. What is the most amazing place you have visited? My recent visit to Galapagos was fantastic, otherwise perhaps Petra, Mount Sinai or Ayers Rock. What famous person, dead or alive, would you like to meet? Chaucer—I would like to ask him about that knight in the Canterbury Tales. What’s your pet hate? Being told lies—life is complicated enough as it is. What’s your favourite book? “Middlemarch” by George Eliot, with Owen Chadwick’s “Victorian Miniature” a close second. Tell us a little-known fact about yourself My name comes out in Chinese, I am told, as Very Intelligent Horse.

March 2007 www.christchurchbath.org Christ Church Challenge 19

Officiating Minister The Rev Antony Claridge, 62 Cranwells Park, Weston, Bath BA1 2YE 01225 427462 Assistant Clergy The Rev Cliff Burrows, Stonecroft, Entry Hill Drive, Bath BA2 5NL 01225 334743 Reader / Mark Elliott, 32 Charlcombe Lane, Larkhall, Director of Music Bath BA1 6NS 01225 445360 Reader / Magazine Distributor Cyril Selmes, 10 Daffords Buildings, Larkhall, and Editor Emeritus Bath BA1 6SG 01225 420039 Reader Tom Slade, 42 Rockliffe Road, Bathwick, Bath BA2 6QE 01225 465864 Churchwarden John Metcalfe, 26 The Macies, Upper Weston, Bath BA1 4HS 01225 464240 Churchwarden / Verger Angela Soboslay, 285 Newbridge Road, Bath BA1 3HN 01225 333297 Church Council Secretary David Bishop, The Old Tannery, Turleigh, Bradford on Avon, BA15 2HG 01225 869409 Treasurer to the Trustees David Marles, 5 Westwoods, Box Road, Bath BA1 7QE 01225 859969 Chairman of the Trustees Yvonne Morris, 3 Summerhill Road, Sion Hill, Bath BA1 2UP. 01225 425555 Deanery Synod / Weekly Notices Emma Elliott, 32 Charlcombe Lane, Larkhall, Bath BA1 6NS 01225 445360 Deanery Synod / Laity Rotas / Junior Sarah Hiscock, 2 Mortimer Close, Bath BA1 Church 4EN 07983 556759 Deanery Synod / Churches Together in Margaret Heath, St Lawrence, Lansdown Road, Bath (CTB) Bath BA1 5TD 01225 428272 Mothers’ Union (MU) Margaret Burrows, Stonecroft, Entry Hill Drive, Bath BA2 5NL 01225 334743 CTB / MU Secretary & Treasurer / Sylvia Ayers, 5 Forester Avenue, Bath BA2 Missions to Seafarers / Calendar 6QD 01225 463976 USPG Adrian Pegg, 68 London Road West, Bath BA1 7DA 01225 858809 Christian Aid / Children’s Society Jenny Wright, Flat 2, 7 Raby Place, Bathwick Hill, Bath BA2 4EH 01225 465331 Organist David Wrigley, 3 Haydon Gate, Radstock, BA3 3RB 01761 439355 Magazine Editor / Nicky Gladstone, 5 Westwoods, Box Road, Secretary to the Trustees Bath BA1 7QE 01225 859969 Concert and Bookings Co-ordinator Judith Bishop, 01225 869409 www.christchurchbath.org Email [email protected] 2007 CHRIST CHURCH, JULIAN ROAD DIOCESE OF BATH AND WELLS IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

PAST HISTORY Christ Church was built at the end of the 18th Century by the socially concerned clergy and lay people for those excluded from worship by the system of pew rents. It was probably the first church of that time to provide seating free of charge. Early supporters included the Archbishops of Canterbury and York; the great evangelical campaigner against slavery, William Wilberforce; Philip Pusey, the father of E B Pusey; and Martin Stafford Smith, the godfather of John Keble, who were both founders of the Oxford Movement. The building was designed by the famous Bath architect John Palmer, who was responsible for the completion of the Great Pump Room, Lansdown Crescent and St Swithin’s, the parish church of Walcot. In November 1998, the congregation, friends and well-wishers from all over the world celebrated the bicentenary.

MINISTRY Christ Church is unusual in not being a parish church. Much of the vitality of its life and worship derives from the fact that the congregation comes from all areas of the city and the surrounding districts. Whilst there is no full-time paid vicar, there is a non-stipendiary priest-in-charge, who leads a ministerial team of ordained and lay people. Worship at Christ Church largely reflects the traditions of those responsible for its foundation and the rich diversity of the Church of England as a whole. Thus, preaching and Bible-based teaching is firmly set within a liturgical setting which is best described as liberal and catholic.

SERVICES The 8am Holy Communion is either Book of Common Prayer (1662) or Common Worship. At 10am the Eucharist is celebrated according to Common Worship. On the first Sunday of each month, there is a full Choral Evensong. A Junior Church and a Crêche cater for the children and young people who attend the 10am service. We hold special all-age services once a month and at festivals such as Easter, Christmas, Mothering Sunday and Harvest.

There are a variety of mid-week activities including Holy Communion at 11am every Wednesday during Lent, followed by lunch). The notice board and the weekly notice sheet provide details of discussion and prayer groups which are held at different times throughout the year. An all-age choir, which rehearses on Friday evenings maintains the much-admired music tradition at Christ Church.

CHURCH COMMUNICATIONS Published on the first Sunday of every month, Christ Church Challenge brings news of the church locally, in the Diocese, and throughout the world. Our website is constantly updated and can be found at www.christchurchbath.org

The deadline for articles for the magazine is the 15th of the preceding month. Thank you.